HOW DID CASEY FEEL ABOUT IT?

We know that Cindy Sheehan, Casey Sheehan's mother doesn't like the Iraq war; blames George Bush personally for her son's death, and generally feels like her son's life was wasted.

But has anyone asked how Casey Sheehan felt about the war?

Well, here's an interview with Cindy Sheehan on an antiwar blog that kind of gives you a hint of how her son may have felt about the war. You'll have to sift through the heavy antiwar propaganda but you can get an idea here ...

Now, I myself deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq after 9-11. I wrote a letter, or an email, to my Mom every day. And in my letters, I often told my Mom how I felt about the war and what I was doing over there. In my experience, most troops do the same.

Ms. Sheehan says that Casey was only over there for two weeks before he was killed and she never got a letter from him. She did, however, find a letter that Casey started to write her in his personal affects when the Army shipped them to her after his death. She doesn't talk too much of specifics in that letter.

But a few things we do know...

Casey RE-enlisted in the Army knowing that his unit would be deployed to Iraq. So clearly if Casey held a strong bias against the war - he would have used an honorable opportunity to avoid it by simply getting out of the Army when his contract expired. Since he didn't do that - this is a pretty strong statement that Casey at least felt comfortable with the war - and the fact that he was going to deploy in support of it.

There is an indication here - based on the interview I linked to above - that perhaps Casey even had an opportunity NOT to deploy with his unit (after reenlisting) because of the type of job that he did in the unit. There's an inference in this interview that perhaps Casey VOLUNTEERED specifically to deploy to Iraq. If that's true - that's really not the type of thing a Soldier opposed the war - as vehemently as his mother is - would do.

We also know that Ms Sheehan mentions nary a negative word that Casey may have spoken to her about his feelings for the war. This indicates to me he either didn't mention his feelings to her - or the feelings he expressed were supportive and she's just not telling us on the advice of her antiwar handlers. I suspect the latter - because, in my experience, it would be RARE - extremely rare for a Soldier not to mention his feelings on this to his immediate family. A serviceman, and I'm speaking from much personal experience here, who deploys to a combat zone knows that every communciation he or she has with their immediate family - MAY BE THEIR LAST. Every one of those conversations is precious - and you really concentrate on telling your family what your feelings are - should the communication be the last you ever have with them.

Based on what I see on the antiwar sites - and from Casey's own actions prior to his death - there is no other conclusion to logically make other than -- Casey believed in what he was doing and thought the war effort was a good thing. If he had felt otherwise - he would have communicated it to his Mom and the antiwar frogs would be exploiting the hell out it!

So who cares?

Well, Cindy Sheehan should. If her son supported the war effort - I doubt that he'd take much pride in the way his name is being used now by the antiwar frogs - with his own Mom's cooperation! If Casey had strong feelings that this was a just war - he'd be furious if he knew that his name and his honorable service would be remembered in history as a part of any antiwar movement!

Cindy Sheehan may be Casey's Mom - but she doesn't own his name, nor the reputation he built as a Soldier, and she has no right to use his name and his honorable service in a manner that he wouldn't have wanted it used!

And although Cindy Sheehan may be so overcome with grief that she doesn't realize this now - the ANTIWAR MOVEMENT CERTAINLY DOES! They know this fully well and yet they are still willing to USE CASEY AND HIS GOOD NAME to satisfy their own political purposes. This is "identity theft" on the part of the antiwar crowd. It's a VIOLATION of a proud Soldier who is no longer here to speak out for himself and it should be a clear indication to all of us just what cretins these antiwar folks are. Un-American, Un-principled! Shame!